


Spinel Gets Independent!

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 07:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21011894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: So this is basically the build for what I hope to be a Garnel fanfiction. But it'll be more slow-burn, so I don't know if Garnet and Spinel will date immediately.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been about two weeks since Spinel was given some money by Greg to move into an apartment. It was enough for her to stay a whole year and find a source of income in that time. The place was rather nice, overlooking the beach like a hotel and having its own rooftop garden. Yet Spinel… did not take to living by herself. It was on this day that Steven asked Spinel over the phone how she was doing. When she said that she was great, he seemed relieved, and she even anxiously insisted he come see for himself.

In reality, the apartment was painfully messy and crowded. In a bout of loneliness, Spinel took in a wandering American Shorthair cat she named "Guppy". This is because she heard the word 'guppy' when watching television one time, and loved the way it sounded. The cat's collar and food dish said "Guqqy", though, because she hilariously wrote the Ps backwards.

The apartment was thrashed, and Spinel managed to at least wipe off the countertops so she could cook. All she knew how to make were scrambled eggs, waffle-maker waffles, and store-bought orange juice (which didn't require preparation, just to be poured). However, under all of the stress, Spinel burnt the eggs she meant to give to Steven. Now she was really panicking as the entire apartment filled with burnt-food smoke, she cracked open the living room window and coughed. To make matters worse, poking her head out the window yielded a visual from below: Steven approaching the apartment staircase from the parking lot. It would not be long before he reached Spinel's second-floor room. Hurriedly, she fanned out the smoke. Things were not looking good.

Steven was very startled and annoyed when he tried to open the door only to see that a tower of junk was in the away. He'd also brought along a curious and already skeptical Pearl. "Uhhhh," Steven huffed as he continued to push the door enough to let him and Pearl inside.

"Oh! So glad you could make it," Spinel called from the kitchen area, to the left of the entrance and separated by a wall. 

"It smells exactly like Amethyst's favorite 'well-done' eggs in here," Pearl grumbled with a tone that made it obvious how suspicious she found that.

The entirety of the floor was littered with trash, which alarmed Steven to no end. Magazine covers scattered, cracker crumbs sprinkled, cat food blanketed. In every corner was some kind of junk heap like in Amethyst's room. "Spinel… I…"

"Can't believe how well adjusted I am, riiiiight?" Spinel said with faux-pride, striding into view with a plate of waffles terribly over-saturated with syrup and orange juice filled so high to the brim they were sloshing out of the cups with each step Spinel took. It was a disaster, and both Pearl and Steven stood there staring with mouths agape.

"Spinel, what's going on?" Steven said with that canon-typical whiny voice. Suddenly, Spinel frowned and froze where she was before epically dropping the rather shabby plates of waffles to the ground. One plate non-painfully fell on Guppy and stained the neurotic cat's fur with syrup.

"NOOOO! Guppy!" Spinel cried, overwhelmed and embarrassed. Now she broke down, slumping forward with a stretch and resting on her knees.

"That says 'Guqqy'," Pearl whispered instinctively with a disappointed frown.

"I hate living alone, Steven! Why can't I just live with you guys?!" Spinel sobbed pathetically. This pained Steven to see, so as if on cue, he started to say,

"Oh, of cou--" before he could continue, he caught a glimpse of Pearl's facial expression in his peripheral vision. It was the most terrifying he'd ever seen her. Her face said all the words he knew she wanted to say. _Say one more word, Steven, and you're toast. I already have to deal with Amethyst and her hoarding habits. And AT LEAST she has a system. If you even dare to let her in I will make your shortened life Hell. Don't._ Okay, maybe he exaggerated that last part through anxiety. But taking heed to the warning, Steven rerouted his speech, "Of course you can't do that. You can't give up when things get hard. You know what you need? A roommate!"

Thankfully, Spinel seemed to stop feeling miserable even without her pleaful wish being granted. "A roommate?" She repeated back to Steven aloud, curious and unaware of the concept.

"Yeah, like, someone who'll live with you and help out. Among other things!"

"Oh, like a friend? How about you, Steven?" 

"... No, sorry, I live at the temple," Steven awkwardly declined. 

"What about y--" Spinel tried, turning to Pearl.

"Don't even think about it, Booboo," Pearl said in the most serenely frigid voice ever. It terrified Spinel, but Steven was used to her random bouts of unchecked aggression. 

"Then who will be my roommate???" Spinel said with tears forming, preparing to wail once again. This was exhausting to deal with, but it was also understandable. In reflection, Steven doubted Peridot and Lapis would have been nearly as comfortable adjusting to Earth alone.

"You can do a screening. Like, interview a bunch of people to see who's the most fit to live with you," Steven suggested with a smile, before making an indifferently lined face and adding, "you have to clean up first, though."

"Oh so like. An audition? An audition to be my friend… why, that is the single best idea I have EVER heard!" Spinel said with a yearning excitement trembling in her voice. Steven cringed just a little, since she just missed the point a whole lot. 

Now, giving Spinel a brief hug, he finalized this enlightening visit by announcing to her that they'd put up some ads for her to screen roommates.


	2. Chapter 2

Cleaning the two-bedroom apartment was more difficult than Spinel anticipated. Even with her extremely useful limbs, it took forever to tidy everything up. The place started to look better after three hours of really hard work. Exhaustedly, Spinel sighed in relief at the bare floor and scrubbed counters. Yet there were a lot pet stains on the carpet and some dirt, too. That was a lot more work Spinel wouldn't worry about right now. Proudly, she started to struggle with tying up her cheap vacuum before gasping at Guppy on the ground. Whining, stuck to the carpet because of the syrup in his fur. "Oh no, what am I gonna do?!" she said aloud on impulse, distraught and overcome with anxiety.

Ten minutes later, Guppy had the most bizarre haircut ever. His fur was now in a coil shape around his body. But Spinel did not see how awful and silly it was. "All better," she falsely claimed, wielding the apparatus responsible for the abomination in her right hand. "You look so good, Guppy," she squealed, petting her pissed cat. 

"Mrow," Guppy defiantly replied, eyes narrow.

A knock at the door pulled Spinel's attention away. The first interviewee must be here! Quickly, she reached all the way door and opened it. "Welcome!" she called quirkily from afar, walking the rest of her body to where she stretched her hand. "This is my apartment. I'm Spinel, nice to meet you," she said like how she rehearsed, letting this person inside.

"Hi, I'm Sadie!" the person walking in responded, nervously smiling upon entering. "Oh my God, what's wrong with that cat?" she immediately changed the topic, horrified by the fur-coil.

"Isn't Guppy's haircut just the coolest?" Spinel unawarely said, giggling. 

"Yeah, I guess so. Um… so anyway, my first question was about portioning rent. So we'd be 50/50 every month, right?" Sadie asked in concern, wanting to check if this was financially possible for herself.

"Well, you can worry about that AFTER your friend audition," Spinel answered, sitting down in a director's chair she unfolded and yelling, "ACTION!"

Now Sadie just started sweating as she stood in place. She glanced left and right. "Am I supposed to do something?" Sadie asked with a tremor in her voice.

"..." Spinel remained silent, wondering if this was a part of the performance somehow.

Slowly, Sadie started backing towards the door, saying nothing and sweating bullets as she made eye contact with Spinel. Neither of them said anything even when Sadie twisted the door open behind her back and left. Suddenly footsteps clashing down the stairs could be heard. Curious, Spinel sprung to the window and looked out at Sadie running down the sidewalk alone at night. "Leaving was a bold choice for your audition! I'll give you a call!" Spinel called out to Sadie, who did show any sign of recognition. "Hmm, that was a bit weird though," Spinel acknowledged as she stepped back over to the director's chair. Seconds later, a head peaked through the door.

A small, chubby child with a spiky dollop of hair approached Spinel, holding a bucket. Spinel asked, "Hey there! What's your name?" In return, she did not get a response. Instead the child poured out the tin bucket to reveal wads of $100 bills. "Um… what is all that for?" she anxiously pried, only to get no response. As soon as he'd dumped it all out, the weird child scraped the enormous amount of cash back into the bucket before shaking his fingers shaped like a phone around. This probably meant "call me". Spinel would not do that.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, someone knocked on the door. "Hey, you gotta come see this freakin' bug," came a gravelly yet somehow soft voice. Upon opening the door, Spinel saw a person dressed in a leather jacket and jeans crouching on the balcony-porch. They were hovering over a weird beetle. 

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, ducking down to play with it. "Aw! Look at it! I bet it'll love Guppy. C'mon buddy, you should meet Guppy!" she laughed before invasively picking it up and cupping it in her hands.

"So you're doing the roommate screening?" the leather-jacket individual asked. 

"Yup! Name's Spinel, how about you?" she introduced.

"I'm Steve," he smiled, before concluding with, "can I see the apartment?"

His response came in the form of a spastic nod. Inside, he could see she kept it relatively clean, and that was nice. He struggled with making messes. Everything changed when he saw Spinel lay the beetle on top of the cat. "Dude, your cat looks awesome," Steve laughed hysterically, seeing the coily shape that made absolutely no sense.

"Thank you for noticing!" Spinel said bouncily, feeling validated. Now she tried to set the beetle in front of Guppy's face. "Here, meet your new friend," she whispered sweetly. A dramatic moment of Guppy and the beetle deeply staring at each other began. Guppy stood up, and lifted up one of his paws. It almost looked like he wanted to pick the beetle up or pet it. His paw hung in the air above the beetle and 

**SQUISH. **

"NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" despaired Spinel, to which Steve began to suppress immense laughter. It was cruel, and troubling, sure, but her reaction was the funny part. "I didn't even get to name it," Spinel lamented, statement grave with tears. A coaxing pat on the back came from Steve.

"It's okay," he comforted. And just that single ounce of comfort went so far.

"You know what?" Spinel returned, turning around and looking at Steve. "I think you totally aced this audition to be my friend. You've got the part!"

Now Steve began to laugh, seeing this as adorable and strange. "Thanks then, lady! I didn't know w-we were auditioning for that," he uproariously replied, trying not to offend her by laughing too hard.

And so Spinel had a roommate.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been about two months since Steve moved in. The apartment was not nearly as messy, but now that Spinel was less depressed it became clear that Steve made more of a mess than her. The two were very close as friends, and seemed to emulate one another more than expected. Everything seemed so fine, until a realization came about. It was when Spinel had the Crystal Gems visit her and Steve for dinner.

"This is a really good, er, Lunchable, Spinel," Pearl meekly complimented, taking the tiniest nibble of the processed cheddar cheese. 

"I ate mine oreo too fast," Amethyst groaned, snatching at Pearl's lunchable in attempt to steal it. Yet Pearl's hand lunged at Amethyst's and prevented it from taking her oreo.

"Amethyst, this is the only item in this plastic tray that I want to eat. So don't touch," Pearl berated with a growl, intimidating Amethyst enough to keep her grubby hands off.

Garnet tossed a cheese slice into her mouth and smiled at Spinel. "Ah, a good choice of Lunchable, Spinel. Crackers 'n cheese are the best!"

Sitting next to Steve, Spinel bounced in her chair. "Thanks! I'm so happy you like it."

"So how're things with you and your new boyfriend?" Greg asked from beside Steven, triggering Steve to begin choking on a cheese wedge. Garnet shot up and pounced on him, excellently performing the heimlich maneuver. Spinel and Steve exchanged an embarrassed glance when he was finished choking.

"No need to be embarrassed, we've all been talking about how you're obviously the upcoming power couple," Pearl said in a snooty tone.

"Um," Spinel stammered, averting her gaze. At the same time Steve shoved a bunch of cheese in his mouth for nervous eating.

Detecting all the discomfort, Steven tried to wave off his friends and family from pushing that topic any longer. Yet seeing the obvious discomfort, Amethyst prodded more. "You expect anyone to believe you guys AREN'T dating?"

"We're just… really good friends, you know?" Spinel explained, blushing profusely. "Um, I think I heard Guppy call me! Be right back!" she desperately announced.

"That's… the cat, right?" Pearl coldly asked for clarification.

She ducked into her bedroom, which was drowned in colorful sequins and pink carpet. Streamers hung around and the walls were decimated with graffiti. Spinel threw herself face-first into her bed to cry.

"Meoorwow," Guppy mewled, cuddling up against her on the bed as he felt her emotional low.

"Oh Guppy… it's so awkward and terrible," she stifled a sob, petting Guppy's (now normal) fur.

At the table, Greg cheekily said, "Oh, to be in love again."

Everyone was almost ignoring Steve, too. There was something bothering Garnet. So she spoke, "I do not think we should say anything on behalf of Spinel about her love life. If we don't know, **we don't."**

"I'm gonna go talk to her," Steven awkwardly told everyone, scratching his neck and walking towards her room.

The moment Steven was out-of-sight, Greg asked Steve, "Is she always like this? You should take her out." And Steve bit his lip and turned red.

"Spinel?" Steven called, entering her terribly-decorated room. The refracting sequins were blinding. "Is everything okay?" 

"Hrnnnnngg," Spinel whined, face planted in her Hello Kitty comforter.

Trying to get close to her, Steven sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry if Dad made you feel weird. Everyone just kinda thinks Steve is your boyfriend, I guess…"

A single impulse allowed Spinel to shoot up. "Why does everyone want to think that so bad? He's just my friend. We're really good friends, yeah. But I don't like him like that. And I don't think he likes me like that, either," Spinel explained.

Apologetically, Steven replied, "I can see why you're so upset, then."

"Yeah, I mean… Steve is like my little brother!"

"Isn't he… an adult?"

"Yes. But to me, that looks different. I'm fifteen-thousand years old. He's twenty-two."

"Touché."

"Why does everyone see us together, anyway? What's the appeal? We interact? He's a human? We're friends? I don't get why everyone is just acting like me and Steve are the couple of the year. Besides, I think he has a girlfriend named Conni."

Steven shook his head sorrily. "I don't understand why either."

"I don't know think of Steve as anything but my best friend… I can't imagine why anyone would want me to default to dating him. It's weird and uncomfortable," Spinel continued to vent, starting to feel better.

In walked Garnet, holding a cookie between her index finger and thumb. "Look what I stole from Pearl for you," Garnet chuckled to Spinel.

** _"AMETHYST!"_ **

"P!!!!!! I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH PLEASE, NOT THE -- AUYUYGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Steven's face scrunched in horror at the sounds coming from the dining room. 

"T-thanks," stuttered Spinel gratefully, appreciatively taking the cookie like she would put it on a shelf and admire it reverently forever.

"Don't mention it. And please, don't mind everyone about you and Steve. I can tell they've got it wrong," she welcomed Spinel supportively, holding her palm in front of her visor that flashed with future vision, indicating that's how she knew they "got it wrong".

"Well, at least nobody will do that kinda stuff to me again!" Spinel said relievedly, before looking right at the reader.

**"PEARL PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**


End file.
